Prosecutors: Menendez bribery scheme went on for years

Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez allegedly starting taking bribes from a wealthy donor shortly after he entered the Senate in 2006, federal prosecutors assert in a new document.

Menendez's bribery and corruption trial is set to begin next week. In preparation for that, Justice Department prosecutors filed a new document Wednesday laying out their case against the New Jersey senator, as well as Dr. Salomon Melgen, his alleged co-conspirator. Melgen has already been convicted in a separate case of bilking Medicare but has not been sentenced yet.

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Menendez's fate — and the what happens to his Senate seat if convicted — is part of the drama surrounding the high-profile case. Menendez has denied all allegation of wrongdoing, and he has denied any talk of a plea deal with the Justice Department.

The new documents lay out the roadmap for the government's case against Menendez.

"The defendants’ bribery scheme began shortly after Menendez’s elevation to the Senate in 2006, when Melgen began a pattern of treating Menendez to weekend and weeklong getaways in the Dominican Republic that would continue for the next several years," prosecutors said in their new filing. "For the first four years of the corruption scheme, the all-expense paid trips Melgen provided often included free roundtrip flights on Melgen’s private jet for Menendez and his various guests. When the doctor’s private jet was unavailable, Melgen supplied equally luxurious travel for the Senator."

For example, in one episode, prosecutors charge that Melgen bought Menendez and other passengers a one-way ticket from the Dominican Republic to Florida worth $20,000.

Menendez eventually repaid Melgen $58,000 for flights after news reports of the New Jersey Democrat's trips to the Dominican Republic.

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Prosecutors also allege that Menendez even demanded Melgen pay for a room at an expensive Paris hotel.

"On March 24, 2010, the Senator sent his patron an email informing him that he wanted either a Park Suite King or Park Deluxe King room at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Paris, France, for a three-night stay in April," the document states. "In his email, Menendez specified that the rooms featured a 'king bed, work area with internet, limestone bath with soaking tub and enclosed rain shower, views of courtyard or streets,' and he instructed Melgen: 'You call American Express Rewards and they will book it for you. It would need to be in my name.'" The room cost more than $1,500 per night.

Melgen and his family members also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Menendez's campaign and a Democratic super PAC that supported his reelection bid.

In return for Melgen's gifts and campaign , Menendez reportedly used his office to help the Florida doctor.

"Although Menendez did not pay Melgen back for the lavish gifts in money, he did pay him back using the currency of his Senate office to take official action to benefit the South Florida doctor," prosecutors wrote. Email exchanges between the defendants, their agents, and officials from Executive Branch agencies will show Menendez’s considerable efforts to pressure the Executive Branch on Melgen’s behalf. And testimony from the agency officials over whom he exerted that pressure will illuminate the relentlessness of those efforts."

Menendez intervened with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Melgen's behalf, as well as with the State Department, according to prosecutors. This include allegedly helped with visas for Melgen's girlfriends.

And prosecutors are attempting to preempt Menendez's claim that the Obama administration wanted him prosecuted over his opposition to its Cuba and Iran policies, calling such claims baseless.

"This case is about serious questions of fact and law related to the corruption of one of the highest elected offices in the United States government. It is not about anonymous tips, Cuba, Iran, party politics, or the political consequences of a conviction," prosecutors said. "The question of whether the defendants engaged in a corrupt scheme cannot be answered by the defendants’ conspiracy theories."